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A Little Bit about Mr Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head is a registered trademark of Hasbro Corporation
Mr P is just being used for your entertainment and could take on Hasbo any day of the week!

But there will be no need for that because Mr P is a peace loving tator!

George Lerner of New York City invented and patented Mr. Potato Head in 1952. Based on an earlier toy called “make a face” that used a real potato, Lerner designed his all-plastic toy as a prize for cereal premiums. Lerner sold Mr. Potato Head to the Hassenfeld Brothers of Rhode Island, who owned Hasbro Inc., the toy company. Hasbro sold the first Mr. Potato Head with a styrofoam head as a base for the facial plug-ins. However, instructions were included that suggested the use of vegetables and fruits instead of the styrofoam.

Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to be advertised on television. In 1985, he received four write-in votes in the mayoral election in Boise, Idaho. Today, Hasbro, Inc. still manufactures Mr. Potato Head.

(Taken from about.com)

Mr. Potato Head was “born” on May 1, 1952. The original toy cost $0.98, and contained hands, feet, ears, two mouths, two pairs of eyes, four noses, three hats, eyeglasses, a pipe, and eight felt pieces resembling facial hair. The original Mr. Potato Head kit did not come with a potato “body”, so parents had to provide their own potato into which children could stick the various pieces. Shortly after the toy’s initial release, an order form for 50 additional pieces was enclosed in every kit.

On April 30, 1952, Mr. Potato Head became the first toy advertised on television. The campaign was also the first to be aimed directly at children; before this, commercials were only targeted at adults, so toy adverts had always been pitched to parents.[8] This commercial revolutionized marketing, and caused an industrial boom. Over one million kits were sold in the first year.[2] In 1953, Mrs. Potato Head was added, and soon after, Brother Spud and Sister Yam completed the Potato Head family with accessories reflecting the affluence of the fifties that included a car, a boat trailer,[9] a kitchen set, a stroller, and pets called Spud-ettes. Although originally produced as separate plastic parts to be stuck into a real potato or other vegetable, a plastic potato was added to the kit in 1964.[1]

In the 1960s, government regulations forced the Potato Head parts to be less sharp, leaving them unable to puncture vegetables easily. By 1964, the company was therefore forced to include a plastic potato “body” in its kit. Little children were also choking on the small pieces and cutting themselves with the sharp pieces.[10] About this time, Hasbro introduced Oscar the Orange and Pete the Pepper, a plastic orange and green pepper with attachable face parts similar to Mr. Potato Head’s. Each came with Mr. Potato Head in a separate kit. Female characters Katie Carrot and Cookie Cucumber also made an appearance. Hasbro also made a fast food based line called Mr. Potato Head’s Picnic Pals. Some characters where Mr. Soda Pop Head and Franky Franky Frank. The friends and pals were later discontinued, but Funko revived Oscar and Pete as bobbleheads (along with a Mr. Potato Head bobblehead) in 2002.

In 1975, the main potato part of the toy doubled in size and the dimensions of its accessories were similarly increased. This was done mainly because of new toy child safety regulations that were introduced by the U.S. government. This change in size also increased the market to younger children, enabling them to play and attach the facial pieces easily. Hasbro also replaced the holes with flat slats, which made it impossible for users to put the face pieces and other body parts the wrong way around. In the 1980s, Hasbro reduced the range of accessories for Mr. Potato Head to one set of parts. The company did, however, reintroduce round holes in the main potato body, and once again parts were able to go onto the toy in the wrong locations.

In 1995, Mr. Potato Head made his debut in Hollywood with a leading role in the Disney/Pixar animated feature Toy Story.[1]

In 2006, Hasbro also began selling sets of pieces without bodies for customers to add to their collections. Some of these themed sets included Mermaid, Rockstar, Pirate, King, Princess, Firefighter, Construction Worker, Halloween, Santa Claus, Chef, and Police Officer. In the same year, Hasbro introduced a line called “Sports Spuds”[11] with a generic plastic potato (smaller than the standard size) customized to a wide variety of professional and collegiate teams.